Florida's Supreme Court on Friday said it would not hear a lesbian divorce case in Tampa until after a state appeals court makes a ruling.

"We decline at this time to accept jurisdiction of the appeal," said the Supreme Court, in response to a recent request from the Florida Second District Court of Appeal,

Last month, the Second DCA in Central Florida asked the Florida Supreme Court to hear the case of Mariama Monique Changamire Shaw and Keiba Lynn Shaw, a lesbian couple married in Massachusetts in 2010, who are now seeking a divorce in Tampa.

Hillsborough County Circuit Judge Laurel Lee refused to grant the couple a divorce because state law bans same-sex marriages. The Shaws' lawyers appealed the case to the second DCA.

The appeals court agreed 10-3 to “pass through” the case to the Supreme Court, in hopes it would decide the fate of Florida's gay marriage ban once and for all.